The antiheroes, after traveling for around 25 km, had arrived through the forest and at the border wall.

They had encountered a few wild slimes and goblins along the way, and even a large wild wasp.

[Mind Control]

"Kill yourself"

The wasp proceeded to stab itself with its own stinger, thrusting its own weapon directly into it's chest. After squirming and making a large fuss of buzzing noises from the poison coated on the stinger which coursed through the veins of the wasp, it laid down and died. Despite the fact that it was a wild monster, it could not escape the control of Samantha, and it could not resist her will.

She held ultimate authority over anyone who met her eyes when she used mind control, whether it be beast or man.

Garett collected all the resources he could from any fallen monsters, ensuring to not allow anything to go to waste- especially because he now held the master craftsman skill. There were further uses to each item aside from just what one would see on the surface. These hidden possibilities were clear as day to Garett. Despite the fact that he could mold the properties of substances, it required effort and mana to do so, and he could not do it indefinetly- therefore acquiring resources which did not need to have their properties changed was critical to producing more equipment, contraptions, and structures.

He extracted the stinger using the steel cloth gloves which Berith had created to prevent himself from being cut, sliced off the legs, and even gathered the mandibles and any other pieces after dissecting the wasp. They would come into use soon enough, but for now he stored them in his inventory.

The antiheroes looked at the large wall. It was constructed from stone- an average yet sturdy wall. The stones looked like they had taken many ramming attacks, however they were not on the verge of crumbling. Rather, the dents in the wall were a tribute to how sturdy it was and how effective it had been against repelling intruders.

The wall had three stories, shaped almost like a staircase where an entire floor was a step. There was a balcony like area on each story for soldiers to be positioned, which was outside of the buildings that the walls of the upper story formed.

Rows of archers were lined on the wall, however there were not so many that they filled the entire wall. There was about 5 archers for each segment of wall, which spanned around 10 meters.

Walking on top of the walls were a number of soldiers carrying swords. Instead of having a gate, the wall had a large drawbridge. It was not placed like a normal drawbridge, but rather it's base was connected and anchored at the top of the first story, and the chains which allowed it to drop down were connected to the top of the second story of wall.

The odd thing about this bridge was that when lowered, it would create an incline connecting the ground (on the monster side of the wall) to the roof of the first story of the wall where soldiers were stationed. This incline would allow for soldiers to traverse from the wall to the monster realm and back if the bridge was lowered, while at the same time preventing the existence of a gate.

If a gate existed, then during any siege this would always be a prime target. The use of this type of drawbridge eliminated the need for a gate, while allowing transportation if the bridge was lowered. It was not a perfect solution, as if the chains holding the drawbridge up were to be severed then the bridge would come crashing down, allowing the entrance of monsters, however for this reason these chains were extremely thick and heavily reinforced

"What should we do? I could try to mind control the guards, however it would take time and care in order to control everyone, and it would leave confusion behind us if we snuck into the country this way.", Samantha suggested.

"Indeed... but you have that other ability, right? Do you think you could follow my lead and talk your way out of things?", Trevor asked.

"Yeah... I think so."

"We could just blow them up... but I suppose that would attract too much attention. Fine then. Sarah, it's your time to shine.", Ashley admitted.

"But how do we actually engage in conversation in the first place?", Garett asked.

"Gary, why don't you go ahead and craft us a few basic shields. Make them out of metal ore."

"Got it, Theo."

Garett then quickly crafted a few small round metal shields, which could be held in one hand each.

"If they attack, we use these to block while I try to get their attention and stop them from firing. While Samantha's illusion spell makes it seem like we are wearing some light clothing, we are actually all wearing our steel thread armor underneath the illusion, and so we will not be harmed even if the arrows hit us- which would be impossible as I would react to it using my speed of light skill in order to move us out of the path of the arrow, and even if that didn't work Ally could use her magic to prevent it from reaching us- however it is necessary that it seems like we simply blocked the arrows fired at us in a way the humans can comprehend so that we do not appear to be suspicious powerful beings."

The others nodded and readied themselves.

The four emerged from the bushes, with their hands up.

"Hm? What's that rustling over there?"

"Archers! Take aim!", one of the paroling soldiers shouted.

A troop of archers all aimed at where the bushes were rustling.

"Wait! Don't fire! We mean no harm!", Trevor shouted from the bushes before emerging with his hands up.

The troops lining the column were all dressed in what looked to be bronze armor from the Hellenic era. They all pointed their bows at the four elves who slowly emerged from the bushes submissively.

Each of the elves had a medium sized metal shield attacked to the front of their right arm, however their hands were visible from the position of the archers.

"Hold fire!", the paroling soldier who seemed to be in charge shouted. He wore a bronze chest plate with an intricate pattern which looked like vines drawn on it, and had a spartan helmet on with a light blue mane.

This was Corporal Morias. He was in charge of the particular squadron of soldiers stationed on this segment of the wall, and he took charge quickly before the situation turned violent.

He tapped one of the archers on the shoulder and the archer moved out of the way for the soldier to move up and speak.

"Elves? What are elves doing here near the border, and coming from the monster realm? If you don't answer correctly then I will have my men fire on you for suspicious behavior."

'Did they come from the Alliance? Or perhaps they are monsters in disguise? They certainly aren't a group of mercenaries, or else they would have some form of recognition. I should be careful here. One wrong move and I will order my men to shoot...'

"We... we are from the Alliance!", Samantha yelled.

'Hoh? They know of the Alliance. If they are monsters, they surely are well informed about a country in the human realm that is so far removed. Why did they come here though? What were they doing in the monster realm?'

"What reason do you have for being in the monster realm, and how did you get here from the Alliance?"

'If they came here by boat then it's plausible... however, why would they be here? Were they trying to beat back the monsters? Perhaps they were an exploration squad...'

"We are... explorers! We came by boat from the Alliance, and we have been fighting monsters while traversing this land. We are tired and have come a long way from our homeland, and we would like to be granted permission to enter your country so that we may live without fear of being attacked!"

Samantha strung her words along the thoughts of Corporal Morias, playing him like a fool.

'Exactly as I thought... I suppose my intuition is pretty dang good. I should test them a little more, however I have never heard of any monster that can disguise itself so well as another species. Their story is probably true. While some details are missing, I suppose that would go for any exploration team sent out by another country.'

"Are you all aware that the Empire is currently at war with the Alliance? You all are the enemy of the empire! Give me one good reason to let you all live.'

'Heh heh... the empire isn't at war with the Alliance. If they actually came from the Alliance then they would obviously know this.'

"What are you talking about, good sir?! The Empire and the Alliance are not at war!", Samantha said while putting on the face of a damsel in distress, who needed the brave soldiers of the empire to take pity on her and let her in.

'Ah... so they truly are from the Alliance. Alright. I have no reason to keep them out... that being said, I should assign a guard unit to keep an eye on them. You can never trust those damn elves... always sneaking around and doing things in secret. They should just keep hidden away in their own country!'

Corporal Morias thought he saw the female elf who had been representing the group give him the evil eye, but it must have been his imagination. She was now smiling at him.

'What a beautiful woman. I suppose that's one good thing about the elves...'

"Alright. I'll let you all in, however if you cause any trouble in the empire you will regret it!"

With that, the drawbridge was lowered and the four walked across it. The soldiers remained at arms, and eventually the group passed through a door into the second layer of the wall, and went down a staircase before exiting into the human realm.

Was it his imagination, or did the shields they were holding just disappear into thin air? Perhaps he was hallucinating. Morias decided not to give it too much thought. Perhaps he was tired.

Before the antiheroes was a military encampment with hundreds- maybe even thousands of soldiers, dressed in armor that looked like it was from the Hellenistic age. While there were a few wearing odd and different gear, almost every person looked like they were from Ancient Greece or Rome.

Tents were pitched all over the place, and fire-pits were roasting various foods. Groups of soldiers walked from one place to another, and while the helmets of most did not have any mane, leading each group was at least one person who's helmet had a mane. The most common one was a light blue mane, and once in a while they saw a dark blue or even a yellow mane.

The antiheroes slowly walked through the encampment, trying their best not to gain attention or disturb any of the soldiers stationed here. They wanted to avoid blowing their cover and leave the encampment quickly.

"Let's get out of here as soon as possible", Ashley whispered to the others, who nodded.

"Indeed.", Trevor replied.

The antiheroes had made it into the human realm.